According to a sternly worded DNR letter hand-delivered to Kipp last week, the company did not properly notify the agency of the discovery of the PCBs nor did it provide information on the extent of the contamination or cleanup plans.

“The Department cannot emphasize enough the serious nature of this situation,” wrote Linda Hanefeld, DNR remediation supervisor, in the letter. “The fact is, there is heightened neighborhood concern about your site and this contamination was found near the property line. We hope your lack of response is not an indication of a lack of urgency.”

Environmental enforcement activity by the state Department of Natural Resources has dropped dramatically in the past two years, according to data from the agency, with the number of permit violation notices hitting a 12-year low in 2011.

DNR officials say the decrease is partly caused by an enforcement staff that's been hit hard by budget cuts.

What good are laws and regulations protecting the environment if they are not enforced?

Not enforcing laws and regulations is an order of magnitude easier than repealing them. If the Walker administration could do it quietly, they would repeal most environmental protections. They don't try because they know the outcry that would ensue. They certainly don't want to further inflame the Democratic base before the recalls.

In addition, outright repeal would in many cases violate federal laws and regulations, which is why they are getting written complaints from EPA.

So, they simply don't do their job, and hope nobody notices in time for the electorate to catch on to it. It seems to have come within a few weeks of working, depending on whether or not the rest of the state's news organizations decide to give it coverage.

"I don't apologize for that," said DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp of her emphasis on customer service and a less-confrontational agency. "When we do our jobs right at the Wisconsin DNR and when we are no longer viewed as somebody to be afraid of and instead as a partner in understanding what the expectations are ...

we also see environmental enhancement and job creation as a result.

(Businesses) know they have somebody they can come to and help them comply."

Does anybody else see 'environmental enhancement'? or 'job creation', for that matter? I don't.

But its nice to know that the current policy of the DNR is to help business get around those pesky regulations.

It is a well-documented ploy by Republicans to simply not fund or underfund, the regulatory aspect of agencies with which they do not agree. An earlier poster was right: this is the easier way to ensure no enforcement of rules/regulations which are on the books. It also has the added benefit of being "concrete evidence" for them to point to of government not working

Maybe it's the political pressure on the Walker administration just prior to the recall primary, but DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp finally cited the Kipp Corp and then referred the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution. Let's see if Van Hollen acts anytime soon.

Henry Vilas wrote:Maybe it's the political pressure on the Walker administration just prior to the recall primary, but DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp finally cited the Kipp Corp and then referred the matter to the Justice Department for prosecution. Let's see if Van Hollen acts anytime soon.

Interestingly, according to the WSJ, DNR refused staff recommendations to refer a case in Oconomowoc to DOJ--Gunderson and Kleefisch (who received campaign contributions from the company) pushed to prevent that.

A top political appointee at the state Department of Natural Resources chose not to send a complaint against an Oconomowoc waste hauler to the Department of Justice for prosecution despite findings by agency staff that the company was treating fields with so much human waste from septic tanks it risked poisoning nearby wells, DNR records show.

Scott Gunderson, executive assistant to DNR Secretary Cathy Stepp, “made an extra effort” to deal with the complaint internally last year even though the agency’s enforcement staff urged that the case be referred to DOJ, which could have imposed fines of tens of thousands of dollars.

Instead, Gunderson decided to ask district attorneys in Waukesha and Jefferson counties to issue five citations against Herr Environmental and fine the company $4,338 — the minimum forfeiture for the permit violations, which the lead DNR investigator called “among the worst” he’d seen.